Film Review of the Week

Horror

Talk To Me (15)

Review: Fans of horror cinema know that it’s never prudent to prize open a doorway between the human and spirit worlds because ghosts that accept the invitation to cross through are seldom as friendly as Casper. Poltergeist, Flatliners and the Insidious saga make compelling cases for caution when it comes to dabbling with the supernatural. Youthful curiosity overrides common sense in Talk To Me directed by Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who have amassed an ardent following with their RackaRacka channel of horror comedy videos.

Opening with a car accident that results in a kangaroo lying half dead in the road, the filmmaking twins’ stylish genre piece invents a folkloric alternative to a Ouija board – an embalmed hand reportedly severed from a psychic – as the totem that will allow spirits to take temporary possession of a foolhardy character’s body. The script co-written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman relies heavily on cinematographer Aaron McLisky to conjure a mood of grim foreboding, dissipating pent-up tension with brutal explosions of violence that elicit bloodcurdling pleas for help. Directorial brio, including an ambitious tracking shot through a crowded party, distracts attention from the film’s familiar narrative trajectory.

Seventeen-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) is haunted by the suicide of her mother (Alexandria Steffensen), who allegedly “took too many sleeping pills… by accident”, and the infuriating reluctance of her father Max (Marcus Johnson) to discuss the chain of events leading to her passing. On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Mia persuades best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and her boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji) to accompany her to a seance involving an embalmed hand, which reportedly allows participants to connect with the departed. Jade’s 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird) tags along, intrigued by viral videos of the hand.

Joss (Chris Alosio) and Hayley (Zoe Terakes) preside over the ritual at a house party and lay down the strict ground rules: light a candle to start the ceremony, hold the hand and utter the words “Talk to me”, invite a spirit (if you dare) into your body and blow out the candle within 90 seconds to close the connection. Mia takes part, desperate to reconnect with her mother, but her insatiable hunger for answers makes her vulnerable to predatory forces that languish in the dark.

Talk To Me is a steady slow-burn of suspense, which avoids jump scares as characters become hooked on the adrenaline rush of interacting with the hand while fellow revellers capture their convulsions as social media clickbait. Practical make-up effects embolden possession sequences and keep the Philippou brothers’ picture grounded in queasy reality. Wilde is a sympathetic victim of trauma, consumed by grief, while Jensen and Bird offer solid support as siblings who learn that it’s not always good to talk.

Animation

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (PG)

Review: Cowabunga! The bodacious, crime-fighting reptiles created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1984 somersault back on to the big screen in a gloriously irreverent animated adventure directed by Jeff Rowe and co-directed by Kyler Spears. Crammed with pop culture references and affectionate nods to previous incarnations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem follows the lead of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse by shunning pristine, photorealistic visuals to adopt a painterly style in keeping with the characters’ origins.

Five screenwriters including Superbad double-act Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have a blast peppering dialogue with name drops and quips, whether it be venerating Adele’s vocal abilities (“those notes were transcending”), rudely comparing the title characters to another misunderstood hero (“they look like little Shreks!”) or milking one running joke about turtle anatomy to the point of absurdity. Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross intensify the kinetic energy of action sequences and provide a melancholic melody to represent the turtle brothers’ yearning to be accepted by humankind: “Maybe one day everyone will love us like they love Ferris Bueller”. Rowe and Spears’s rumbustious picture, replete with an end credits tease of the series’ supervillain, shows plenty of love to the heroes in a half shell.

Turtle siblings Donatello (voiced by Micah Abbey), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr) and Raphael (Brady Noon) have been raised on pizza slices, ninjitsu lessons and kindness by their surrogate rat father Splinter (Jackie Chan) in the sewers of New York City. The creatures were all infected by the luminescent ooze created by scientist Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) and have lingered in the shadows ever since, fearful of the cruelty of the world above. “Humans are the demon scum of the Earth,” preaches Splinter.

The bodacious siblings hatch a hare-brained scheme to win human hearts by performing heroic deeds aided by new friend April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), a spunky high school student with dreams of becoming a reporter. Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael pledge to help April get the scoop on criminal mastermind Superfly (Ice Cube), who has assembled a team of mutants including warthog Bebop (Seth Rogen), rhinoceros Rocksteady (John Cena), alligator Leatherhead (Rose Byrne) and bat Wingnut (Natasia Demetriou). Best laid plans unravel and the turtles are targeted by shadowy syndicate leader Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph), who intends to weaponise ooze to the highest bidder.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a rollicking coming-of-age story which strikes a playful tone from the outset, melding that distinctive handmade aesthetic with impeccable 3D wizardry. Vocal cast riff enthusiastically off each other, mining generous laughs without completely diminishing the seriousness of a mission to protect New York from a Godzilla-sized threat. Skyscrapers tumble, the ground shakes and turtle shells crack but Rowe and Spears’s film stands firm.